Method for Identifying Replacement Parts and Extracting Features Via a Sequence of Images

Abstract

A method for identifying replacement parts includes receiving a sequence of images of a test part. A set of features of the test part is extracted from the sequence of images. The features include at least one of a dimension, a shape, a texture, a color, a material, a thread count, a spectral characteristic, a histogram threshold, scale invariant features, and keypoint features. The set of features of the test part are compared with a database of a plurality of replacement parts. The database stores a set of features of each of the plurality of replacement parts. At least one replacement part is identified in the database, which has a set of features similar to the set of features of the test part. The identified replacement parts are filtered based on priority. A priority list of replacement parts is developed, and is communicated to a user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for identifying replacement parts, the method comprising;
 receiving a sequence of images of a test part;   extracting a set of features of the test part from the sequence of images, the set of features including at least one of a dimension, a shape, a texture, a color, a material, a thread count, a spectral characteristic, a histogram threshold, scale invariant features, and keypoint features;   comparing the set of features of the test part with a database of a plurality of replacement parts, the database storing a set of features of each of the plurality of replacement parts;   identifying at least one replacement part in the database having a set of features similar to the set of features of the test part;   filtering all identified replacement parts based on priority;   developing a priority list of replacement parts; and   communicating to a user the priority list of replacement parts.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the extracted set of features includes a dimension, a shape, and a material. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the test part is at least one of a screw, a nut, and a bolt, the extracted set of features further including a thread count. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein an object having a known shape, dimension, color, and texture is included in the sequence of images of the test part, the object serving as a reference for extracting the set of features of the test part. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the set of the features of the test part are extracted using a Hough Transform. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 populating the database of the set of features plurality of replacement parts, the populating comprising:   crawling a plurality of websites of suppliers of one or more of the replacement parts; and   scraping information corresponding to the set of features of one or more of the replacement parts from each of the plurality of websites.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the set of features of the replacement parts comprise at least one of a shape, a texture, a color, a material, a thread count, a html link to at least one supplier, information on usability, and an image. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 determining the set of features of the identified replacement part stored in the database are less than the set of features of the test part;   adding a remaining set of features of the test part to the database.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the comparing includes a hierarchical comparing of the set of features of the test part to the database of the set of features of the replacement parts. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the test part is a fastener with a head or a round fastener, the fastener with a head including at least one of a screw, a bolt, and a rivet, and the round fastener including at least one of a washer and a nut, the hierarchical comparison comprising:
 determining if the test part is a fastener;   determining if the test part is a fastener with a head or a round fastener;   determining if the test part is at least one of the screw, bolt and rivet, if the test part is identified as a fastener with a head; and   determining if the test part is at least one of the washer or the nut, if the test part is identified as a round fastener.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the filtering based on priority comprises:
 determining if more than one supplier of an identified replacement part is found;   selecting only a priority supplier of the identified replacement part to include in the priority list.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the developing a priority list of replacement parts comprises;
 sorting the identified replacement parts to include identified replacement parts having a set of features that best match the set of features of the test part to be arranged on top of the priority list.   
     
     
         13 . A system for identifying replacement parts, comprising:
 an imaging device operable to capture a sequence of images of a test part, the imaging device operably coupled to a computing device;   wherein the computing device is configured to:
 store a database of a set of features of a plurality of replacement parts; 
 receive the sequence of images of the test part from the imaging device; 
 extract a set of features of the test part from the sequence of images, the features including at least one of a dimension, a shape, a texture, a color, a thread count, a spectral characteristic, a histogram threshold, scale invariant features, and keypoint features; 
 compare the set of features of the test part with the database of the set of features of each of the plurality of replacement parts; 
 identify at least one replacement part in the database having a set of features similar to the set of features of the test part; 
 filter all identified replacement parts based on priority; 
 develop a priority list of replacement parts; and 
 communicate to a user the priority list of replacement parts. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the test part is at least one of a screw, a nut, and a bolt, the extracted set of features comprising:
 a dimension, a shape, a material, and a thread count.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein to populate the database of the plurality of replacement parts, the computing device is further configured to:
 crawl a plurality of websites of suppliers of the replacement parts; and   scrape information corresponding to the set of features of the replacement parts from each of the plurality of websites.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the computing device compares the set of features of the test part with the database of the set of features of each of the plurality of replacement parts using hierarchical comparison. 
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory computer readable medium for identifying at least one replacement part for a test part, having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a sequence of images of the test part from an imaging device;   extracting a set of features of the test part from the sequence of images, the set of features including a dimension, a shape, a texture, a color, a thread count, a spectral characteristic, a histogram threshold, scale invariant features, and keypoint features;   comparing the set of features of the test part with a database of a plurality of replacement parts stored on the computer readable medium, the database storing a set of features of each of the plurality of replacement parts;   identifying at least one replacement part in the database having a set of features similar to the set of features of the test part;   filtering all identified replacement parts based on priority;   developing a priority list of replacement parts; and   communicating to a user the priority list of replacement parts.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein an object having a known shape, dimension, color, and texture is included in the sequence of images of the test part, the object serving as a reference for extracting the set of features of the test part. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the set of the features of the test part are extracted using a Hough Transform. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the comparing includes hierarchical comparison of the set of features of the test part with the database of the replacement parts.